The Passing of a Great Gray Lady

Dick Zimmermann, Chief Engineer 1970-71

The Passing of a Great Gray Lady

You could hardly tell ‘it’ had once been a ship. They were now calling ‘it’ a hulk, and it floated lifelessly in the water, with rust chewing the hull, the decks, and whatever was left of the superstructure. There was no sign of a living thing anywhere aboard.

But years ago, she was painted and polished. Back in those days, she was a proud warship of the US Navy, a modern guided missile destroyer, USS BUCHANAN (DDG-14). She was alive then, with over 300 men constantly moving and tending machinery that breathed life into the ship. The men worked and sweated and laughed together. They ate meals and watched movies and played card games and trained together. And sometimes, they went to war.

Back then when the ship was living and breathing, you could watch from the bridge and see her forward gun mount train to starboard, elevate its barrels a little, and fire off a couple of rounds with a big KA-BOOM. Then you could hear that distinctive PING of brass shell casings ejected onto her deck. Back then, the signal bridge was teeming with activity as alert Signalmen ran signal flags up and down the halyards, and operated the searchlights that blinked out messages to other ships in company.

The pilothouse was also alive back then, crawling with OODs and JOODs, lookouts, Quartermasters, Bos’ns Mates, helmsmen and others. I remember many times taking the ship to station, with our forced draft blowers howling that beautiful song that only they can scream while the ship is racing through the water at 25 knots, and with spray coming up over the foc’sle on each downward plunge of her bow. On the hulk now, nothing moved in the pilothouse.

Back in the old days in CIC, radarscopes and plotting boards were lit up and alive with contacts, while Radarmen reported them and tracked the contacts carefully. Back then the wardroom, down a couple of levels below CIC, was alive with laughter at movies and comrades sharing their talk over meals that were probably better than what many of us had ever had before, or since, but about which we complained endlessly. Now the wardroom was silent and empty, just as lifeless as the rest of the hulk. I could go through each of the other spaces on the ship with similar stories, how the mess decks were humming and alive before, but now were nothing. And how the firerooms and enginerooms were vibrant back then, but now sat quiet and dead. But you get the idea.

While the hulk floated lifelessly, SH-60 LAMPS helos began firing Hellfire missiles, and several struck the ship with great explosions. But the ship kept floating! Then Harpoon missiles were fired from F-111 and P-3 aircraft, and again there were hits and explosions. But the ship kept floating! A submarine-launched torpedo missed the ship, and she kept floating. She continued to float all night long while those charged with sending her to the bottom pondered what to do next.

The next morning, at first light, a team of Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel boarded the still-floating ship, and spent about an hour placing charges in several spaces. It was now the 14th of June, 2000, rather than the 13th when she was scheduled to go. Shortly after the EOD crew left the ship, there were several simultaneous explosions, all deep within the ship. Her bow settled down into the water, lifting her stern up and well clear of the surface.

The hulk that had once been a sleek modern guided missile destroyer hung in that position for a few seconds, so that you could clearly see the 14 painted on her stern, now proudly matching the new day on the calendar whose page had just turned, and for which she had been stubbornly waiting. Knowing the time was now right, she then slid gracefully beneath the waves.

[Note: The story’s title and details of how the sinking were carried out are from Robert J. Burnz, a retired Chief Missile Fire Control Technician who witnessed the sinking and sent a most touching letter reporting it to the BUCHANAN Association.]

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